It's no surprise most of us depend on our digital devices to coordinate our lives and help us stay in touch with friends and family. And that's OK. But most of us can probably admit to feeling some smartphone guilt. Like, has your kid ever coloured their entire body in marker because you got caught up in a never-ending scroll through Instagram? Or maybe you get really emotional/feel lonely/get angry checking your Facebook newsfeed? Or perhaps you've been accused of phubbing {snubbing someone in favour of a mobile phone}?

You're not alone. According to an Independent article:The average American, for instance, checks their phone every 12 minutes. Market research shows the average user touches their cellphone 2,617 times a day.

The good news is that there are many people discussing this issue- lots of great tips and apps that exist to help you curb your phone addiction.

COME CLEANTell your family and friends you feel like you're hooked and need to scale down your digital dependence. The simple act of telling people about it makes it real and you'll be more likely to stick with your plan if you know they're watching you. You might even get some of your fam & friends on board!

SET REALISTIC GOALSThere's no point in making drastic changes straight away. A good plan is to gradually introduce changes. Maybe your first challenge is to limit Instagram scrolling time to mornings and evenings. Then once that's tackled, maybe you decide to avoid your phone past 9 p.m. And you keep making changes until you feel you have a balanced digital schedule.

SHHHH!Silencing your phone is a super simple way to beat distracting {and often useless} notifications. Or you can go in your settings and turn off sounds for certain apps, so you're only alerted by your ringer and apps you deem important.

OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MINDPlug in your phone somewhere that's annoying to get to. Or leave your phone at home if you're going out {suuuuper hard, I know}. Even if it's just for short periods, like when you bring your kids to the playground or go get a coffee around the corner. The more often you do it, the easier it gets.

WEEKEND WARRIORA great way to really disconnect is to do a whole weekend detox. Or even longer if you can handle it. That means no phones, no laptops, no tablets for a whole weekend. TV optional? It's really whatever you want it to be. If your smartphone is the biggest contributor to your addiction, then maybe just do a smartphone detox during Saturday/Sunday. This sounds hard because... it is hard. Especially since 99.9% use our smartphones as our main telephone. ​FOR THE LONG RUNNow the hard part. If these changes came easy to you, congrats! But sticking with it is the hard part. But because it's an issue for many, there are lots of apps out there that aim to help you with your digital addction woes. {Here's a Top 10 app list by Gizest.com.}

Let us know if you have any great tips! If you decide to do a digital detox, good luck!​